Seven employees of a Hereford garden centre have been recognised for their long service to the company.

Alan Hopkins, Russell Abell, Diana Barber, Michael Smith, Les Pettitt, Patrick Lewis and Karin Williams have all been praised for their continuous service to Wyevale Nurseries, in Kings Acre Road.

Wyevale Nurseries supplies garden centres, landscape contractors, local authorities, foresters and landowners with trees, shrubs, hedging, herbaceous and specimen plants.

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The 'magnificent seven' as they have been dubbed, have together totalled more than 230 years of service to the company.

Mr Hopkins, who has now retired, received a silver medal for more than 40 years long service and Mrs Barber, Mr Pettitt, Mr Lewis, and Mrs Williams were presented with bronze medals for 30 years or more of service at a special ceremony.

Mr Abell, who has worked at Wyevale for 45 years, and Mr Smith, who has been there for 32 years, were unable to attend the awards ceremony.

The seven employees have worked in various areas of the business, including logistics, crop protection, stock control, propogation, payroll, finance and many more besides.

Joint Chairman at Wyevale Nurseries, Heather Williamson, whose grandfather started the business 92 years ago, said:

"Huge congratulations and a big thank you to our magnificent seven for their sterling commitment to our success and for their tremendous support to their colleagues and our customers through the decades.

"Our seven together have given a collective 230 plus years of service to us, which is wonderful.

"We can’t thank them enough for their continued hard work and dedication and we’re so lucky to have them as part of our team."